Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 8000Mhz DDR5 Memory Review

Product segmentation is often established to help consumers know what they are buying.  One of the best examples is what Intel does with their processors, Core i7 and Core i9 are established brand names that help consumers know what they should buy.  The actual performance changes but, the level of performance as it compares to a similar product in the series.

For memory makers, especially with desktop DDR5 we have a HUGE range of performance options from 4800Mhz up to 8000Mhz+.  The Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 is the highest performing modules in the Viper lineup and feature speeds of 7600Mhz, 7800Mhz and 8000Mhz.  Kits are currently limited to 32GB total across two modules and have two XMP profiles available.

In terms of performance the Viper Xtreme 5 modules offered amazing performance out of the box and appeared to work well on our EVGA Z790 Dark motherboard and 13900K Raptor Lake processor.  While the overall performance was exceptional, I did run into a few issues getting the system to run stable and with overclocking.

Now, before I dive too deep it needs to be said that when dealing with high-speed components and overclocking a certain amount of leniency needs to be expected.  For instance, while you can buy 8000Mhz+ memory modules there is a chance that you may not be able to run them at full speed.  It is generally accepted that for the best performance environment your motherboard should only have two memory sockets (dual channel/single bank) as this will reduce noise in the memory subsystem.  Likewise, your processor selection and quality of that processor will play a major factor.  Finally, the voltage options on your motherboard can also limit performance, The Viper Xtreme 5 XMP profiles require 1.45v which is often outside the range allowed on some mainstream motherboards.

During my testing I ran into two issues.  The first was a random “hard crash” during the BAPCo SYSmark 25 tests that would kill the system and cause the GPU fans to spin at 100%, similar to when you initially power on the system.  By raising the XMP profile voltage up to 1.46v that issue went away.

The second issue was the refusal of these modules to overclock beyond 8000Mhz.  It didn’t matter if I changed timings, increased voltage, used the memory frequency selection or raised the BCLK.  The system failed to train the memory and would not boot.

Despite this, I really liked using the new Patriot Viper Gaming Xtreme 5 DDR5 memory modules and found them to be very well rounded and offered some amazing out of box performance.  The RGB lighting is extremely bright and offered an amazing color range that would blend with any custom build and the material used on heatspreaders is a step in the right direction having good weight and feel.  As mentioned, I did need to do some tweaking to get the most out of these modules and while the ability to overclock would have been nice, I don’t see it as being a detractor.

For instance, on builds that may not support 8000Mhz memory you can lower the overall speed.  This opens up the option to lower the voltage requirement while allowing you to tighten the memory timings and attain a memory kit that is often better than what is normally available at that speed.

Stylish Heatspreader Design
Bright RGB Lighting
Amazing 8000Mhz Speeds

Memory might be too fast for some builds